Uranus (1990)

In the spring of 1945, in a liberated town, the engineer Archambaud (Jean-Pierre Marielle), who is already sheltering bombing victims including the communist Gaigneux (Michel Blanc) and the secondary-school teacher Watrin (Philippe Noiret), agrees to hide Maxime Loin (Gérard Desarthe), a former collaborator who is being actively hunted by the FFI. Watrin turns a blind eye. Léopold Lajeunesse (Gérard Depardieu) is the burly, alcoholic owner of a café whose dining room serves as a classroom for Monsieur Watrin and his pupils. The café owner roughs up Rochard (Daniel Prévost), a communist railway worker who had shown disrespect toward the teacher. Rochard takes revenge and reports him to the leaders of his party cell, accusing him of hiding Maxime Loin. When the slander is about to be exposed, Rochard, threatened with expulsion by his party, nevertheless receives support from PC members such as Jourdan (Fabrice Luchini) and Gaigneux. The café owner asks Monglat (Michel Galabru), a merchant who made his fortune with the Germans and whose dealings with the occupying forces he had once helped, to come to his aid. Feeling threatened by Léopold, Monglat agrees to help him, but does not follow through. Meanwhile, Archambaud's daughter, Marie-Anne (Florence Darel), is having an affair with Monglat's son and asks him to help Maxime escape. Léopold is then arrested and imprisoned under an administrative detention order. Rochard resigns from the SNCF and, in the meantime, takes over the running of the drinks business. The PC is embarrassed by the situation and decides to expel Rochard from the party. Léopold is released. That very evening, drunk, he shouts in the public square about all his fellow citizens' wrongdoing and cowardice, denouncing Monglat's illicit dealings. While the town celebrates the return of the prisoners, Marie-Anne discovers at the Archambauds' home that her mother is having an affair with Maxime. Watrin is reunited with his released son and tells him that his mother has died. Monglat intervenes to have Léopold arrested. Léopold refuses to go with the gendarmes, who shoot him dead. Arriving unexpectedly at the Archambauds' home, drawn there by Marie-Anne, Gaigneux comes face to face with Maxime Loin, who, resigned to his fate, lets himself be taken to the authorities. On the way to the gendarmerie, the two men pass Archambaud and Watrin, who pretend they have seen nothing.